How Jeff Linder found his way to the Texas Tech basketball staff from Wyoming

When Dave Smart left his post with the Texas Tech basketball team to become the new head coach at Pacific, there was a glaring hole on Grant McCasland’s staff.

As it turns out, to replace one assistant coach, McCasland needed to look at other sitting head coaches to fill the void.

Jeff Linder, who spent the last four years leading the men’s basketball program at Wyoming, officially joined McCasland’s staff on May 14 in what was a rather unique situation.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Linder’s pending arrival in Lubbock on May 9. He also reported Wyoming already had Linder’s replacement in Sundance Wicks, on May 12, two days before Tech announced Linder’s signing.

In those five days, it became apparent things weren’t great between Linder and the Cowboys. McCasland provided some clarity on the situation earlier this week in his first availability of the offseason.

“I think what happened in his scenario is just completely unique to (name, image and likeness),” McCasland said. “How do you build a team and what are the opportunities that each university has to build it? I think ultimately, he was at a transition time where he’s trying to figure out how to navigate this new landscape and we were able to convince him to come to Tech and be a part of winning a national championship.”

McCasland and Linder go back to their time at Midland College together, where they led the team to an appearance in the JUCO national quarterfinals. They first met when McCasland was a residence hall director at Northeastern Junior College in Colorado while Linder was working at Division II Emporia State. Linder was trying to recruit some of Northeastern’s players.

The two coaches are the same age — Linder will turn 47 next month — and have children who are also the same age. They’ve been connected for decades, and the opportunity presented itself to reunite in Lubbock.

“These days in college basketball I think your staff has to be connected,” McCasland said, “and people not only have to love the game, but you’ve got to be able to trust each other and he’s a guy that I trust with everything.”

There is some fallout from how Linder wound up in Lubbock, though.

Alex Taylor, the University of Wyoming beat reporter for the Wyoming Tribune, reported Tuesday via X (formerly Twitter) that Tech and Wyoming reached an agreement to sort out Linder’s buyout with his previous school.

In exchange for Linder coming to Texas Tech, Taylor reported, Wyoming will visit Lubbock for non-conference games during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons in which Tech will pay guarantees of $150,000 each ($300,000 total).

Wyoming will also receive an additional $200,000 for its return football game in Lubbock in 2028. Tech, which lost at Wyoming on the gridiron in the 2023 season opener, was set to pay $300,000 for the Cowboys’ trip to Lubbock. That price tag will now be $500,000.

“UW agreed to waive the remaining portion of his liquidated damages after Coach Linder vacated the money owed to him,” Wyoming AD Tom Burman said in a statement, “and Texas Tech agreed to provide financial support for a few competitions. UW felt that this was a good compromise.”

Taylor said in a previous social media post that “Linder has talked extensively for the past two seasons about the lack of NIL in Laramie.”

Now that the dust has settled, Linder is officially with the Red Raiders, and McCasland sees it as an immediate positive for Tech’s on-court possibilities.

“I think on the floor coaching and game planning,” McCasland said, “he’s really going to be a huge add for us. … He’s an awesome guy more than anything and I really think he’ll help us basketball wise, but his character and who he is as a person is the biggest add to our program.”